


A Period for a Comma

by Shi_Toyu



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, BAMF Tony Stark, Canonical Character Death, Crying, Gen, Hope, Hopeful Ending, Hurt, Hurt Nebula, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nebula Feels, Nebula Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Short, Tears, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shi_Toyu/pseuds/Shi_Toyu
Summary: WARNING: SPOILERS WITHINIt always comes back to Tony's mom in the end.





	A Period for a Comma

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING FOR SPOILERS

They were all dead. All of them.

Tony stumbled back to the pile of dust that had once been Peter. Fuck, he’d been just a _kid!_ He was a _child_ and Tony had gotten him killed. He was gone, Star Lord and his two teammates were gone, Strange was gone… Tony’s stomach twisted unpleasantly, and he collapsed to his knees to vomit up what little was in it. He’d only had a protein shake for breakfast this morning, expecting to have lunch with Pepper after their run.

What had happened on Earth? Were they still fighting? Had Thanos killed them? Bruce? Cap? The team? _Pepper?_ He would be going for the mind stone, going for Vision. Surely that was where he’d teleported off to. Or had Thanos just decided to get their troublesome group out of the way? But if that was the case, then why was Tony still alive? Because Thanos thought he’d die of his wounds?

“It’s over…” Tony nearly jumped out of his skin and whipped around at the sound of someone else. “He did it.”

It was the woman who’d shown up halfway through the fight, the one who had blue skin and was at least 75% made up of cybernetic parts. Tony could feel himself trembling as he stared at her, his lashes wet with unshed tears. He blinked them away as he tried to wrestle control of himself. He hardly even knew where to begin. It was all so… overwhelming.

“He did it?”

She turned to look at him, resignation pulling at her whole body like a physical weight. Tony could see it in the droop of her shoulders, the unsteadiness of her legs. It was the posture of someone who had given up.

“He has the final stone. He achieved everything he wanted. It’s over.”

Pain laced through her tone and Tony dimly remembered her also talking about the Gamora person, the one Thanos had apparently killed. Tony understood her pain. If Thanos had the final stone, that meant Vision was dead. Another needless death. More blood on his hands. Tony clenched his hands into fists and forced himself back to his feet.

“No,” he denied. “It’s _not_ over.”

The woman, whatever her name was (fuck, he should probably ask that at some point), turned her incredulous gaze to him.

“How can you say that? He has won! Thanos got the stones! No one can defeat him! It is over! End of story! It was all for _nothing!”_

She screamed the last word and Tony wanted to reach out to her, to lay a hand on her just to keep her from falling to pieces. He wasn’t sure what good he could do, though, not when he was so close to falling apart himself.

“No,” he said again, choking it out past his tears. “We’re still alive. The story doesn’t end here. Do you know what my mother used to tell me? ‘Never put a period where God puts a comma.’ As long as we’re still alive, Thanos will pay for what he’s done.”

She swayed dangerously on her feet and Tony finally took the step to cross the distance between them and help take some of her weight. His abdomen burned and ached where he’d been stabbed, but it’d heal, given time. He hoped it was time they had.

“You’ve got a ship, right?” he asked. She had to, since she hadn’t come with them or the other guys. Hell, maybe she knew where _their_ ship was. “We can’t stay here.”

This, at least, seemed to get her moving and she pointed him in the right direction.

“How… How can you be so optimistic? What do you think you’ll be able to accomplish against Thanos now? What could you hope to?”

Words, spoken long ago, echoed through Tony’s mind and he lifted his chin, shifting to take a bit more of her weight.

“I’m one of the Avengers,” he told her, “and we may not have been able to save the universe, but we’ll sure as hell avenge it.”

The pain was crushing, but as Tony and his new companion shuffled their way across the dusty, lifeless planet, the path felt right. Thanos, Tony thought, should have killed him when he had the chance.

**Author's Note:**

> This came up in a bible study I was recently doing and I really liked it. Never put a period where God puts a comma. Your story isn't over yet.


End file.
